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Under the Chassis: A Look At Tesla's Battery Shield

Posted by timothy on from the now-for-the-suv dept.

cartechboy (2660665) writes "Tesla said a few weeks ago it would add additional safety shielding to protect the battery of every Model S car on the road against damage from road debris. But it offered no photos of its update as it would look when installed--so one owner took his own. These may be the first detail shots of what the three different pieces look like. There's a half-round aluminum tube, a titanium plate, and a T-shaped section--and you can see how they combine to deflect and direct impacts to minimize damage to the battery. Do these updates look like they'll solve Tesla's problems?"

12 of 152 comments (clear)

  1. Problems? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    " Do these updates look like they'll solve Tesla's problems?"

    You mean Tesla's problem of already being the safest car money can buy?

    Or do you mean Tesla's problem of having every minor pecadillo be over-hyped by the media, especially right wing news outlets that want to downplay Tesla's success because admitting Tesla is successful is tantamount to admitting a policy of the Obama administration that the right wing fought against actually turned out to be a good policy. It might fix that.

    1. Re:Problems? by ustolemyname · · Score: 4, Informative

      The sample size of total number of Tesla's is statistically significant. Total size of population relative to ICE vehicles is irrelevant.

    2. Re:Problems? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The sample size of total number of Tesla's is still considerably smaller then ICE vehicles.

      The relative sizes of the two samples is irrelevant. Statistically illiterate people almost always vastly overestimate the sample size required to draw useful conclusions. Inaccuracy is usually not caused by the "sample size", but the sample bias, for instance, if there was some reason that Tesla fires would be under or over reported.

  2. Was it really Tesla's problem? by dclozier · · Score: 5, Insightful

    These accidents all seem to stem from the drivers and their carelessness. From crashing through brick walls to hitting large chunks of debri in the road rather than going around it. All Tesla has done is made their vehicles less prone to the driver being careless. (good move none the less)

    Next up - Tesla cars catch fire after drivers park them in the ocean.

    1. Re:Was it really Tesla's problem? by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 4, Insightful

      disagree about carelessness.

      I believe products should be designed (over-designed) so that even if users are not operating fully as planned, you should still have a safety margin to protect them.

      its typical german (old school; not sure about now) engineering design. don't just do the job barely; OVER do it. just in case.

      having protection down there makes uber sense ;) not having it is a weakness. this should have been there on day-0 and I'm very surprised that they didn't.

      when making a brand new product, its best to over-plan for disaster and mitigate as much as you can, in advance, via over-design and better parts quality than you thought you might need. you get only a short window to prove yourself to the world, might as well do all you can to make that big splash work for you and not against you.

      to contrast, the chinese way (sigh) is all about just barely having enough headroom to support use-cases. they will put lower voltage capacitors on a circuit thinking 'this is good enough for our foreign users; if the circuit blows up, who cares, we already got their money'. this is why so many people are going out of their way to avoid chinese junk electronics. their design mindset is ALL WRONG and actually dangerous.

      I'd like to see more of a return to overdesign and thoughts about customer safety and product longevity. this throw-away culture really pisses me off.

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    2. Re:Was it really Tesla's problem? by Baloroth · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Sure, except that in every reported case of battery fires in a Tesla, the user has walked away from the crash (even when the crash took place at 100 mph or so). The cars already have the highest safety rating possible in tests. Expecting a safety margin is one thing, and Tesla has shown they more than fulfill that. Expecting to be invincible is quite another, and that's what a lot of people (or, at least the media) seem to be expecting, and that's incredibly stupid.

      This battery shield is a PR move, quite simply. Not a bad one, and it might marginally improve safety, but I suspect only extremely marginally so, and it's certainly not worth it as a safety measure alone.

      --
      "None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
    3. Re:Was it really Tesla's problem? by smooth+wombat · · Score: 4, Funny

      any vehicle with relatively low ground clearance is going to have trouble in this sort of scenario

      That's why when I'm driving through a parking lot and some ricer with their "ground effects" car is grumbling behind me, I speed up just slightly so they're paying attention to me and not the speed bump which they can't see because they're so close to me.

      I always get a pleasure hearing a sustained, "CRUNCH!" as their car scrapes over the bump.

      --
      We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
  3. Gonna go with "no" on this one. by pla · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Do these updates look like they'll solve Tesla's problems?

    Since Tesla's biggest problems come from buggy whip... I mean, car dealership... protectionism, combined with a dislike bordering on zealotry from a media that still considers the Chevy L88 as the engine to beat for every compact sedan they review?

    No. No, these updates will not solve Tesla's problems.

  4. How much titanium by Kardos · · Score: 4, Interesting

    is there in one of these plates? Are they detachable by thieves to be sold for the metal value?

  5. I doubt it. by Rollgunner · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't think any number of technical improvements can fix a problem that only exists in people's heads.

    Hysteria, superstition, preconception and failure to understand statistics are the *real* problems that Tesla faces in marketing their product.

  6. Re:Stop the Tesla Love by mosb1000 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yes, because it makes a whole lot of sense not to think of cars as technology, and Slashdot never reported on electric cars before Tesla.

  7. Re:Stop the Tesla Love by mmell · · Score: 5, Funny

    Who cares if it'll solve Tesla's problem...?

    Employees of Tesla. Owners of Tesla vehicles. Geeks (well, nerds actually) who want to own a Tesla. Proponents of zero emission vehicles. People who are interested in new or inventive technologies...

    I don't come to /. for automotive news.

    There's the trap - come to be a troll, but look out - you may learn something here if you're not careful!